Biosphere Reserves Institute

UNESCO Biosphere Reserves are unique places for innovative sustainability research and partnerships. According to the Lima Action Plan, biosphere reserves can play a significant role in sustainability research, e.g., by serving as living labs to understand and monitor social-environmental changes, by providing infrastructure to the development of research activities, by collaborating with research institutions in the development of projects, and by undertaking research to inform their own management plans.

In 2022, the Biosphere Reserves Institute of the Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development organized the International Conference on “Science and Research in, for and with UNESCO Biosphere Reserves”. In this conference, more than 100 participants from 46 countries jointly developed the “Eberswalde Declaration” a proposal to strengthen science, Indigenous and other knowledge systems, as well as research in, for, and with UNESCO Biosphere Reserves. In 2022, the Eberswalde Declaration was presented to and endorsed by the International Coordinating Council of the UNESCO “Man and the Biosphere” (MAB) Programme.

In February 2024, the Biosphere Reserves Institute organized the European Workshop “Research in European UNESCO Biosphere Reserves” that brought together 30 participants, including researchers and practitioners from 16 countries and different biosphere reserves. It promoted networking and learning on biosphere reserves’ research progress, gaps and collaborations, and data accessibility/management. One output was to start developing guidelines for research in biosphere reserves. These guidelines have been further developed at the 2024 EuroMAB conference within the workshop “Good practices to develop research strategies, and ethics, diversity and inclusion” and will be finished during this workshop in February 2025.